Toy gumball banks are well known and many different designs have been proposed or commercialized. In contrast to coin-operated gumball vending machines, in designing toy gumball banks there is a premium on simplicity of design and ease of manufacture. Thus, since they are designed to withstand rough service and tampering, coin-operated gumball vending machines generally are too complicated to be adapted for use as toy banks.
Toy gumball banks preferably are fabricated from injection molded plastic parts. One popular and commercially successful design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,810,535 to C. Phipps. This design includes a dispensing mechanism which is rotatably mounted in a base between upper and lower floors. The dispensing mechanism includes a circular, rotating transfer arm having a plurality of openings adapted to transport gumballs from a reservoir. The transfer arm is rotated through a number of predetermined positions, in each of which a gumball opening is situated above a dispensing chute so that gumballs may roll down into the chute.
More particularly, a user can insert a coin into a coin socket located on an actuator arm. The actuator arm has a coin slot aligned therewith. The transfer arm also has a number of coin slots, one of which will be similarly aligned with the coin socket in each of the transfer arm's predetermined positions. Thus, an inserted coin will roll into the actuator arm coin slot and one of the transfer arm coin slots. In that position, the coin serves to couple the actuator arm and the transfer arm together for simultaneous rotation.
When the arms are so coupled, rotation of the actuator arm in a first direction will cause the transfer arm to rotate in the same direction to its next predetermined position. At this point, the coin drops through a coin slot in the lower floor of the base and into a coin storage area, whereupon the arms are decoupled. The actuator arm then can be rotated freely back in the opposite direction so that the actuator arm socket and coin slot are aligned with another one of the transfer arm coin slots. Another coin then may be inserted, and the arms again will be coupled so that rotation of the actuator arm will rotate the transfer arm to its next predetermined position.
Thus, gumballs are dispensed by coupling the arms with a coin, rotating the actuator arm in one direction, decoupling the arms, and rotating the actuator arm in the opposite direction back to its original position. As this process is repeated, the transfer arm continues to rotate in the same direction from one predetermine position to the next.
This design has much to commend it. It is fabricated entirely from injection molded plastic pieces which can be fabricated and assembled much more economically than can designs suitable for gumball vending machines. There are, however, a number of deficiencies which it shares to a greater or lesser degree with other previously proposed and commercialized gumball bank designs.
First, the operation of the dispensing mechanism, which is functional in a general sense, is not as smooth and reliable as may be desired. The transfer arm is held in its predetermined positions by a detente post which cams in and out of slots in the transfer arm as the transfer arm is rotated. The height of the detente post is fairly critical. That is, if it is too short, the transfer arm will not be held in its predetermined positions and the various coin slots will not be aligned. If the detente post if too tall, however, it will be difficult to rotate the transfer arm.
Further, the dispensing mechanism is circular and cannot be adapted easily, if at all, to bases not having a substantially cylindrical configuration. This severely limits the aesthetic choices for the overall appearance of the bank.
Gumballs also must be loaded through a small opening in the base lower floor which can accommodate only one gumball at a time. That opening is accessible only by removing a bottom plate which secures the coin storage area. Thus, loading of gumballs is a fairly tedious operation which also requires removal and handling of coins in the coin storage area.
Finally, any improvement in the design which will result in cost savings, either in material costs or in processing and assembly costs, would be desirable.
It is an object of the subject invention, therefore, to provide gumball banks having improved dispensing mechanisms which operate more smoothly and reliably.
Another object is to provide gumball banks which may be adapted to a greater variety of aesthetic designs and, more specifically, to provide gumball banks wherein the dispensing mechanism does not constrain the base to a substantially cylindrical configuration.
A further object of the subject invention is to provide gumball banks which may be loaded with gumballs in a more rapid and convenient manner.
Yet another object is to provide gumball banks which may be more easily and economically manufactured.
It is also an object of the subject invention to provide gumball banks wherein all of the above advantages are realized.
Those and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following description and upon reference to the drawings.